FILMMAKERS' COMMENTS
Co-Writer/Producer Teal Minton's thoughts on what happened to THE PLAGUE
Hal Masonberg's Director's Statement To Producers
Hal Masonberg's behind-the-scenes-story of THE PLAGUE
In asking Co-Writer/Producer Teal Minton his thoughts on what happened on
THE PLAGUE,
he responded with these thoughts:
"What happened on this movie is typical of the Hollywood machine. People
start out with the best intentions and quickly become afraid for their jobs,
of being criticized, of not making money. They immedietly start trying to
please everyone from the audience to their bosses. The problem is they don't
actually know what would please any of these people so they come up with
some idea based on their past, and go about destroying all the reasons they
wanted to make the film in the first place.
"Our goal with writing the script and making the movie was to do something
like literary pulp, basically taking a genre b-movie concept and finding
the human story in it, giving it some depth and meaning, while still making
something that is scary and exciting. In a lot of ways it was a risky film
to begin with and we all knew that and discussed it at length.
"As far as we knew everyone involved in the movie was planning to take
it to film festivals in order to find distribution. It was never a mainstream
horror film but something much smaller with a more specific audience; an
independent distributor would know how to market this kind of film to that
audience..."
"This is simple: The Writers & Director's cut is better. I spent eight years on this film and it was only through Hal's commitment and vision that it even got made in the first place. That vision remains in this cut and his passion for visual storytelling informs every frame. I believe with all my heart that this incarnation of the film needs to be seen."
--Teal Minton